Wisdom makes the wise man stronger than ten rulers in a city.
Parallel translations
- WEB Wisdom is a strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.
- KJV Wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten mighty men which are in the city.
- NKJV Wisdom strengthens the wise More than ten rulers of the city.
- NASB Wisdom strengthens a wise person more than ten rulers who are in a city.
- NLT One wise person is stronger than ten leading citizens of a town!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Wisdom gives a wise man more strength than ten rulers in a city. It matters because godly wisdom is a greater power than political or military might.
Overview
The Preacher exalts wisdom as a strength surpassing that of many city rulers, recalling how wisdom once delivered a city (9:14-15). True wisdom accomplishes what raw power cannot. This points beyond human cleverness to the wisdom of God in Christ, which is stronger than men (1 Corinthians 1:25) and through which God overcomes the world.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Col 1:9–11For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
- Prov 21:22A wise man scales the city of the mighty and pulls down the stronghold in which they trust.
- Prov 24:5A wise man is strong, and a man of knowledge enhances his strength.
- Eccl 9:13–18I have also seen this wisdom under the sun, and it was great to me:
- 2 Sam 20:16–22a wise woman called out from the city, “Listen! Listen! Please tell Joab to come here so that I may speak with him.”
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The search that finds everything 'under the sun' to be vapor exposes the emptiness of life without God and drives us to the one who alone gives meaning, the resurrection that makes our labor not in vain.
How Ecclesiastes 7:19 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.